Parts of the Jabalia refugee camp in north Gaza were destroyed by Israeli air strikes this week, leveling structures in a densely populated region where Palestinian authorities say at least 195 civilians were killed and dozens more are still missing.
According to Israel, the attacks were successful in targeting Hamas military leaders, militants, and the tunnel network dug beneath residential areas and used for operations. In retribution for its Oct. 7 strikes on Israel, which killed 1,400 people, largely civilians, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s administration has threatened to destroy Hamas, the Palestinian Islamic militant group that controls the Gaza Strip.
The strikes on the Jabalia camp, the largest of numerous refugee communities in Gaza, have heightened international alarm about Israel’s humanitarian toll.
Following the first airstrike on Oct. 31, which left deep craters filled with broken concrete and twisted metal in the midst of Jabalia’s densely packed buildings, the Office of the United Nations Human Rights Commissioner Volker Turk expressed “serious concerns that these are disproportionate attacks that could amount to war crimes.”
The United Nations refugee agency for Palestinians reported that classrooms used as shelters by thousands of people in the Jabalia, Beach, and Al Bureij camps, as well as almost 50 of its buildings and assets, had been damaged across the 360-square-kilometer Gaza Strip. According to the United Nations, at than 70 of its employees have been killed.
Israel has blamed Hamas for the civilian deaths in Gaza, claiming that the group is employing Gazans as human shields. In recent days, Israeli officials have frequently warned Palestinians in northern Gaza to evacuate.
